Effects Of Smoking On The United States

My grandfather had smoked for many years when he was younger. Now that he is older he has become a victim of lung cancer. Luckily he survived, however, it was a scary time for me and my family. Tobacco has a huge history on how it started and what it is now. It has been around for over 8000 years, but the first medical reports submitted accusing cigarettes and tobacco of the cause of lung cancer only came out in the 1920’s. Many newspaper editors refused to announce this new discovery because they did not want to hurt the tobacco companies who advertised heavily in the media. Today’s machines produce about 9,000 cigarettes per minute while in the beginning they only produced 200 per minute. Now more and more people are starting to smoke due to tobacco companies selling cigars. Tobacco companies should be blamed for young people getting addicted to smoking and experiencing a higher risk of lung cancer.

Imagine we lived in a world where smoking was banned… we could prevent, life-threatening diseases, premature demise, the death of wildlife, and 2.5 million losses caused by the exposure to secondhand smoke. (“Tobacco Facts and Figures” 1) Although cigarette smoking has decreased from 12.6% to 7%, 42 million Americans still continue to smoke regularly. (“Tobacco-Related Cancers Fact Sheet” 1) America’s media has a way of glamorizing this toxic product and consequently influencing more individuals to jeopardize their lives and everything around them in order for people to perceive them in a “cool” manner. All in all, smoking should be prohibited in the United States because it negatively impacts society as a whole. Cigarettes not only causes deadly diseases in the

Smoking, sniffing, and chewing tobacco has been around for a long time. “The history of cigarettes, dates back to early 4000 BC in South America.” (Chicago Tribune). Smoking and or chewing took place in many types of rituals and still do today. It wasn’t until Columbus in 1492 brought tobacco leaves to Europe from the Native Americans. From here it spread over Europe and the Europeans brought it to America along with their settlements. From the 1930s to 1950s cigarettes were advertised as physician tested and approved. For example, Jackler for healio.com in the article Cigarettes were once ‘physician’ tested, approved states One of the most famous of the campaigns of this era was the “More Doctors” campaign for RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company’s

The facts are right there on the box; “Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, and emphysema and may complicate pregnancy.” Almost all teen smokers say they regret beginning to smoke. Most smokers attribute the habit of smoking to the glamorization of smoking in the media, peer pressure, self-image, and easy access to tobacco; from stealing cigarettes from parents or having someone who is 18 buy the cigarettes for them. Teen smoking is on the rise and it is a problem. Cigarette smoke is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. It is projected that almost 500,000 deaths occur every year because of harmful effects caused by smoking cigarettes ; despite this fact, everyday almost 5,000 teens try cigarettes for the first time and about 2,000 of them continue to become regular smokers.

Smoking is a risk factor for many diseases including lung cancer, chronic lung cancer and other cancers. 90% of cases of lung cancer are attributed to smoking (Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 2013). Additionally, smoking increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases in women and men aged between 35 and 69 (Owing, 2005). Smoking accounts for 25% and 30% of cases all cardiovascular diseases in young adults in the America and Britain respectively. This number is big when compared to Hong Kong which as 12%. 15% to 20% of all cases of cancer are caused by smoking in both the America and Britain (Gilman and & Zhou, 2004). Smoking causes 75% of cases of chronic cancer including emphysema and bronchitis. Smoking increases the risk of lung diseases as it damages the airway and alveoli. In other words, the rate of morbidity in both America and Britain as a result of smoking is very high and this is why the two countries have taken the habit very serious by treating all smokers as social pariahs (Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 2013).

Notwithstanding the release of the first Surgeon-General’s Report on smoking and health in 1964 that linked smoking to the cause of several diseases such as cancer, smoking persistently infiltrated our society but It was not until the effects extended towards the non-smoker that smoking was verified to be a health risk. Consequently, the anti-smoking campaign began in the United States and the passing of legislation and policies concerning smoking became relatively easy.

Smoking prevalence remains high across the global, national, and state levels. Among the world’s population, 22% of individuals aged 15 years and older were regular smokers in 2011 (WHO, 2016). High prevalence of smoking results in increased development of chronic diseases, resulting in one death every 6 seconds (WHO, 2016). In 2014 an estimated 40 million Americans smoked cigarettes regularly. Meanwhile, more than 16 million Americans suffer from a smoking-related diseases (CDC, 2015). According to Jamal et al. (2015), this results in more than $300 billion in direct health care expenditures and productivity losses each year.

“I knew that smoking was bad… I didn’t think I would have a premature baby,” said Amanda. “I couldn’t hold her much in those first weeks. It’s time I’ll never get back. Smoking took that from me.” 2 This woman describes the hardship that she went through while pregnant and giving birth. Amanda, like many others, was addicted to smoking throughout her college career and early into her pregnancy. Her baby was born 2 months early and was forced to spend weeks in an incubator.2 This personal experience illustrates the emotional, mental and physical stresses that are associated with cigarette smoking. From a data standpoint, Amanda represents 1 out of the 36.5 million people over the age of 18 in the U.S. that are currently smoking leading their health to deadly diseases1. This anecdote helps to understand some of the issues associated with cigarette smoking from an individual perspective and many are trapped in the deadly habit. This paper will begin by looking at the prevalence and demographics of adult cigarette smoking in the U.S to help understand the magnitude of the issue. It will then examine the problems and vulnerabilities associated with smoking by outlining public health issues and then suggest possible solutions that have worked in different settings. Finally, this paper will discuss the implementation of the intervention by deploying the three levels of the social ecological level.

In the United States, the use of tobacco is increasing from time to time. There are significant risks associated with tobacco use. According to the CDC (2017) website, “Smoking causes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, stroke cancer, heart disease, lung diseases, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis” (CDC, 2017). Phillips et al. (2017) included in their morbidity and mortality weekly report:

Since the 1950s, more than 70,000 scientific articles have left no doubt that smoking is an extraordinarily important cause of premature mortality and disability around the world. In populations where cigarette smoking has been common for several decades, about 90% of cases of lung cancer, 15–20% of cases of other cancers, 75% of cases of chronic bronchitis and emphysema and 25% of deaths from cardiovascular diseases in those 35–69 years of age are attributable to tobacco. Studies have shown that half of all long-term smokers will die of a tobacco-related disease and, of these, half will die before the age of 65.

“I knew that smoking was bad… I didn’t think I would have a premature baby,” said Amanda. “I couldn’t hold her much in those first weeks. It’s time I’ll never get back. Smoking took that from me.” 2 This woman describes the hardship that she went through while pregnant and giving birth. Amanda, like many others, was addicted to smoking throughout her college career and early in her pregnancy. Her baby was born 2 months early and was forced to spend weeks in an incubator.2 This personal experience illustrates the emotional, mental and physical stresses that are associated with cigarette smoking. From a data standpoint, Amanda represents 1 out of the 36.5 million people over the age of 18 in the U.S. that are currently smoking.1 This anecdote helps to understand some of the issues associated with cigarette smoking from an individual perspective and why many are trapped in the deadly habit. This paper will begin by looking at the prevalence and demographics of adult cigarette smoking in the U.S to help understand the magnitude of the issue. It will then examine the problems and vulnerabilities associated with smoking by outlining public health issues and then suggest possible solutions that have worked in different settings. Finally, this paper will discuss the implementation of the intervention by deploying the three levels of the social ecological model.

There is a widespread epidemic that is highly misunderstood in today’s society, and that is the use of cigarettes. Substances used in cigarettes cause many harmful ailments such as tooth decay, lung cancer, and heart disease. Nicotine, the stimulative chemical found in tobacco, creates a physical and physiological addiction that compels the frequent usage of the product - further allowing the destruction of numerous vital parts of the human anatomy. As a result, many people are diagnosed with fatal diseases and are condemned to a life of therapy or medicine with harmful side effects. Unsurprisingly, “Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including nearly 42,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day” (CDC). This harrowing statistic reveals just how much damage cigarette smoking causes on human lives. Another ramification that is often overlooked is the resulting negative impact on the economy. Billions of taxpayer dollars are used to mitigate the healthcare costs and environmental destruction caused by cigarettes. For these reasons, cigarettes are a plague to society that needs to be resolved. There are many ways in which we can fix this issue, such as raising awareness in schools about the dangers of cigarettes, taxation, and rehabilitation.

Many ad campaigns and literatures have been published on the detriments of smoking. Medical reports further shows that half of all long-term smokers will die from a smoking-related disease. This unhealthy practice must be addressed by the government to lessen the medical cost to treat the ill effects of smoking. Despite all available data available on smoking’s ill effects government has little success in reducing incidence of smoking.

These revelations deal with the close link between cigarette smoking and the lung cancer (Doll and Hill, 1950) and then with other cancers (The Reports of the Surgeon General, 1964). Since these revelations on the mid 1900’s, the trend in consumption of cigarette smoking has declined despite of all the efforts made by tobacco companies. For example, they have engaged a massive cigarette advertising war on the tar and nicotine levels in cigarettes, as well as repositioned their brands and made innovations.

If you haven’t noticed yet, one of the most deadly objects exist all around you. This deadly activity that surrounds us is called smoking. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says “the use of cigarettes kills four-hundred eighty thousand people a year and continues to rise.” Smoking has caused many families to lose members due to a simple stick of tobacco. The reason people even begin to get addicted to a cigarette is due to the drug, nicotine. As said by the American Nonsmokers Rights Foundation, “Nicotine causes the brain to raise the levels of a natural drug called dopamine which is released in parts of the brain that produce feelings of reward.” After the nicotine gets the user addicted, the person will now smoke cigarettes